Page 38 of Single Chance

I returned my attention to West’s impatient face. “New Year’s Eve,” I said simply.

Though West had taken off just before midnight that night, he’d given me plenty of hell about my interest in Rowan, but he wasn’t a gossip or a big mouth. As far as I knew, he’d not broadcast my business to anyone after I’d admitted to going to her room.

“The mystery girl,” he said.

“Who ended up working at the brewery.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “You didn’t tell me that. How the hell haven’t I heard about this?”

“Nobody seems to have figured out she and I were together that night. By some stroke of luck, no one from work was at the inn’s party.” I shook my head. In this town it was a bigger surprise if a secretdidn’tget out.

“Holy shit balls, bro. You work with your one-night stand?” He started to lift his bottle to his mouth and stopped. “Or was it not just one night? You still fucking her?”

“I’m not fucking her.”

His grin widened. “What are the odds of her working for your very small employer?”

Odds indeed.

“That’s not the situation,” I said, once again causing him to lower his beer bottle with his curious gaze locked on me.

His brows rose as he waited me out.

“She’s pregnant.”

“You. Are. Shitting. Me.” He emphasized each word. “Why the hell didn’t you wrap it before you tapped it, Chance?”

“I fucking wrapped it, asshole.” Possibly with an out-of-date condom, I’d realized belatedly.

“Oh, fuck. What are you gonna do?”

I shook my head because I didn’t have an answer yet.

“She’s gonna keep it?” he asked.

“Yep.” I refused to share Rowan’s personal health issues with him.

He studied me for a good long while, then said, “You want me to get the whiskey out?”

I’d tried that last night after Sam had gone to bed. It had solved nothing. I shook my head.

“She was in a vulnerable spot even before this,” I said. “Her grandmother died in December of Alzheimer’s. Rowan was thewoman’s twenty-four-hour caretaker. I don’t know details, but she’s been through a shit storm. She’s living at the inn, trying to find a place to rent. She doesn’t have health insurance, doesn’t have much money.”

“What’s she want from you?” West asked.

“Nothing so far.” I didn’t get the impression she was the type to ask for anything.

He narrowed his eyes. “How well do you know her?”

I laughed. “I know her as a coworker, and I know the sounds she makes when she comes apart. Not much in between.” I fought not to let myself think about those sounds every damn night.

West looked thoughtful as he raised his bottle for another drink. I did the same.

“Do you think I should offer to marry her?” I asked after swallowing a gulp.

He slammed his bottle down on the counter next to him. “Fuck no, you shouldn’t. Don’t you dare.”

I hadn’t expected the fierceness of his reply, but West wasn’t one to keep his opinion to himself.

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